Mangaluru: Stringent action now awaits fish trucks that spill effluents on road

Anusha N Bhat
May 14, 2019

In an attempt to dissuade fish transporters from discharging waste effluents on roads and foul smell in the surroundings, Dakshina Kannada district administration has decided to enforce ‘Kerala model’ to plug the practice of unhygienic fish transportation.

The police department has issued a notice to all ‘Fish Transporters’ to retrofit their carriages with leak-proof insulation. Further, the transporters are required to store the fish within the crates, so that ice in the storage container melts within the vehicles. “Similar to Kerala, that has banned transportation of fish in ‘open’ vehicle, following a 2013 order by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), we have decided to do so. If the vehicles fail to comply, we will impose a fine of Rs. 5000, and then in case of repeat offence we will seize the vehicle,” Mangaluru Police Commissioner Sandeep Patil said in a weekly police phone-in programme.

A major fishing centre, Mangaluru is home to over 1,830 fishing boats and allied industry including fish-meal. Fish is not only a preferred local delicacy but also is in great demand for export. The transportation trucks play a crucial role in providing the last-mile connectivity between the fishermen, ports and the consumers.

However, for years, hundreds of local residents, motorist and pedestrians have allayed concerns of the fish transporting vehicles discharging slimy and sticky water on road, due to the melting ice used to store fish. Including stale and leftover products – that fills the areas with foul smell and even leading up to accident of the two-wheeler motorists. “The wastewater contains oil, which can be very dangerous for two wheeler riders, who may skid and it can prove fatal. Also, the cats and dogs are attracted to the fish that falls-off the vehicle, eventually they are overrun by the passing motorist,” Vasantha Kumar, a local resident said.

Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada Sasikanth Senthil S said the policy will not allow fish transporting vehicles to function in city limits if they are not fitted with waste water tanks. “The vehicles must have inbuilt, water collection containers, else they have to face legal consequences. We have already begun imposing fines on over 200 vehicles violating the rules and we will continue to do so” he said.

While fish transport agencies said that they will take initiative to contain the spill of waste water, transporters add that their concern also must be looked into. However, talking about the concerns of the fish transporters, former Mayor K Ashraf said that the vehicles which go for long drives, have collection tanks and most of the time they make sure that the tanks gate-valves are properly closed. “But the mini-tempos which transport fish for the city limit and the vehicles which transport fish meal, are responsible for the spill, causing accidents of two wheelers and animals,” he said.

Further, Lawrence P, a fish transporting truck driver adds that while they are concerned about environment like others, the administration is simply doing away with its responsibility. “The NGT order also says that major markets run by state or the local authority must have wastewater collection or septic tanks at prefixed locations. But, no one is working to provide such facility, unlike Kerala or Goa that have underground septic tanks and soak pits that processes waste fish water. We are forced to release the water since the carrier gets flooded,” he said.

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News Network
February 6,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 6: Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa inducted 10 BJP MLAs to his Cabinet here on Thursday. They are among the 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs who defected last year.

The much-delayed expansion came almost two-months after the MLAs won the bypolls held in December. During the period, the defectors camp exerted pressure on Yediyurappa to expand the Cabinet and include all the MLAs who contested the bypolls.

The new ministers sworn in are S T Somashekar, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Byrati Basavaraj, K Gopalaiah, B C Patil, Dr K Sudhakar, Shivaram Hebbar, Anand Singh, Narayana Gowda and Shrimanth Patil.

One of the 11 MLAs from the defectors camp, Mahesh Kumathalli was not inducted as he hailed from the same constituency as Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi. Three others, MTB Nagaraj, H Vishwanath and R Shankar are likely to be inducted in June.

Governor Vajubhai Bala administered oaths to the new ministers at Raj Bhavan, where hundreds of supporters came to witness the event. Authorities had also beefed up security arrangements outside Raj Bhavan for the ceremony.

Earlier, Yediyurappa was to induct 10 newly-elected MLAs and three old-timer BJP MLAs. But on Wednesday evening, the BJP's central leadership stepped in to decide that only 10 newly-elected MLAs should be inducted after disgruntlement surfaced among BJP MLAs over former minister C P Yogeeshwar's induction.

Several MLAs led by chief minister's political secretary MP Renukacharya had raised a hue and cry over allotting berths to those who lost Assembly polls. A group of 13 to 15 MLAs had also demanded adequate representation to Kalyana Karnataka region, alleging that the new Cabinet had excess representation from few districts of Karnataka, such as Bengaluru Urban and Belagavi.

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News Network
May 10,2020

Karwar: The number of Covid-19 patients in Uttara Kannada district has gone up to 39 with seven more persons from Bhatkal testing positive for the virus on Sunday.

These seven persons include five men and two women. Among them, the youngest is 15 years and the eldest is 60 years. Rest of the patients are 50, 21, 16, 42, and 31 years old, a health bulletin said. All the new seven cases are contacts of the eight persons who were found positive on Saturday.

Of the new cases, one is an auto-rickshaw driver who had reportedly transported one of the patients. Now the administration is collecting the details of the driver’s journeys and the persons who had travelled in his auto-rickshaw. It is said that some of these persons who were confirmed positive on Sunday had travelled to Udupi and moved around in Bhatkal town to buy medicine.

The pressure on the administration is increasing with new positive cases being detected in Bhatkal town every day. After the first 11 cases, there were no new cases for 20 days. However, since Friday, there is sudden spike in the number of new cases in Bhatkal town.

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coastaldigest.com news network
May 25,2020

Udupi, May 25: In an early morning robbery, two miscreants snatched around 1.2 kilo grams of gold jewelleries from a jeweller and ran away in Udupi.

The incident took place at around 5:30 am near Beedinagudde junction when jeweller Vijay was carrying the gold for lapidary work from his house at Bannanje to his store at Sri Laxmi Towar in Beedinagudde. 

They bumped into him when he going to the second floor of the Sri Laxmi Towar.

According to him, the miscreants who were wearing helmets threatened him with a knife then robbed jewelleries worth around Rs 50 lakh.

While decamping, the robbers also snatched his mobile phone and threw down from building.

Udupi town police conducted the spot investigation and registered a case. Further investigations are on.

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